Hearing-aid battery



June 17, 1941. SIDNELL 2,246,110

HEARING-AID BATTERY Filed 001?- 22, 1940 1i 3 3 2 I 4 2 5 5 I 5 1 IN VENTOR.

EQBERT G. SIDNELL ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 17, 1941 HEARING-AD). BA'ETERY P-'obert.G; Sidilell, Berea, Ohio, assignorto-General DryBattei-ies, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, acct rotation (bf-Ohio Applicationoctoben 22, 1940; Serial:N ;:362,233:

(Cl; 136F109) .This invention. relates to-a. dry. cell battery or battery unit which is particularly well' adapted for use with hearing aids andpock'et' radioisets. Hearing aid apparatus is, of course, designed" to be carried" uponthe personiand' it isdesirable that thebatteryor battery unit therefor be of such size-and shape that it can'be carried in asuitable pocket provided in the clothingwith the least inconvenience to the-wearer. Here tofore batteries for such: devices-have been: gen:- erally enclosedwithina cartonor boxhwhiehiha s square corners: the; result. thatthe corners of: the box wear or. tear the clothing andmake it;difiieult to :insert or to remove-the battery, from a pocket inthe clothing.

One of. the objects of this-inventionis 1 to provide a hearing aid battery which willv avoid the difliculties hereinbefore. mentioned. and which is contained Within -a box or-carton which: is generally rectangular in shape and providedwith rounded corners so that the battery will-be more comfortable to=weariand can: be more readily inserted into or removed from) a pocket in-the clothing: and at the same timewill not. unduly wear or tear the clothing.

Another object of the. invention is. to provide a hearing. aid battery which-comprisesaninner casing whichcontains a* plurality of... dry cells arranged within the: casing, the casing being generally rectangular in shape and. having rounded corners, such casing fititingintoan outer carton whichis off the. samegeneral shape-as the. innerv casing and whichrhas rounded corners fitting the rounded corners oil the inner casing, the entire battery unit: being. of. such size-as to comfortably fit within a. convenient. pocket in the. clothing and to be .readily removable therefrom.

A still further object of the invention islto provide. a hearing- -aid battery which consists essentially of an inner casing which is generally rectangular in shape and which contains a plurality of cylindrical dry cells arranged within the casing, the side and end walls of the inner casing being cut away at the corners thereof and there being a cell disposed at each corner of the inner casing and projecting partially through the adjacent cut away portion and imparting a rounded contour to the corners, such inner casing being received within an outer carton which has flap portions extending around the corner portions of the inner casing and fitting the contour thereof.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a hearing aid battery having the above described distinguishing; features, characteristics and -,advantages: and which? is: well: adapted: for

quantity production: at comparatively low cost.

Further. and' more limitedohjectsiof theclnvem :tion 2 will; appear: as the": description .proceed'siand by. reference to the accompanyingadrawing: in which Fig 11. is a View of the: blankrirom' which the outer .cartonais. formed; Fig 2 13% a view." of thez'blankfirom' which the sinner casing is-formed'; Fig-:13 is artop" plan view ortthe"inner casingzwith the rcellsarrangedtherein', and Fig; 4 is aiperspecftive; Vi'EW' of: the completedibattery 'uniti 'Referringnowto xtheidrawing, the'rbattery unit consists essentially? of an inner casing. or." carton whicniispreferably formed from a. single: piece of cardboard.orotherfsuitable materialsand which COHUdlL'iSEaADIlIIaHtyTOf dry 'cel ls arranged'tthereirr, eachcell: having an: insulating. wrapper: "thereon and being cylindricalviniisnape; Theinner icasing is then enclosed withinv an outer. cartonewhich has a window therein permitting access to the terminal of th'eiibattery' unit. Referring? noun to the drawing; the reference character I -:in'dicates generally a blank from. which tire-1 inner casing is.- formed. This blank comprises az rectangular bottomlportion zlliaving. roundeditcorners 3; 'Dh'e blank also is providedwith 'sidef'fiaps' 4" and? 5 and=end flapsjfi -and I; 'Illriei end fiap fiwhas a slot 8 cut therein: to: receive :the? terminal i. socket connection -for the-battejry; The-flaps are scored as indicated in dottedlines in: Fig. 2;. Thee-flaps are turnedupwardly to the pesitionindicated-in 3 and-the cells are: inserted thereina 1 Each cell 9 comprises a cylindrical.cup orecasing which is enclosedwithin -awranpen llLof insulating materiali such as paper; It-:will. benotedthat; the intersectingv sideand: end "walls of the casing are. cutaway at the corner; portions thereof; the purpose. ofwhichwi-ll hereinafter appear. cellsarearrangedwithinthe casing in the'manner shown in Fig. 3 and there is a cell disposed at each of the four corners of the casing and so disposed that a portion of the sidewall thereof projects through the adjacent cutaway portion. The cells are preferably connected in series as will appear from Fig. 3. Secured within the slot 8 in the flap portion 6 of one end wall is a terminal socket connection II which is connected with the cells in such a manner as to give the voltages required for the particular hearing aid for which the battery is designed. Leading from the terminal socket connection are a pair of wires l2 and i3 which connect with a plug [4 having terminals l5 and I6 which are adapted for connection with an A battery. The

terminal socket connection has openings [1, l8, l9 and therein adapted to receive a jack therein for connecting the battery unit with the hearing aid.

It will be seen that the cells are arrangedwithin the inner casing in such a manner that the side walls of the cells disposed at the corner portions thereof project partially through the cutaway portion and impart a rounded contourto said corners.

The inner casing with the cells therein is.

adapted to be inserted into an outer carton indicated generally by the reference character 21. The outer carton 2| is preferably formed from a blank of suitable material which is shown in detail in Fig. 1. This blank has portions 22 and 23 which form the opposite side walls of the outer carton and two pairs of flaps indicated by the reference characters 24, 25, 2 6 and 21 which form the end walls of the outer carton. These flap portions are scored as indicated by dotted lines so as to provide tuck-in portions. The flap portion 24 has a window 28 therein which, when the outer carton is formed, is disposed over the terminal socket connection I I. provided with flap portions 29 and 30 and intermediate flap portions 3| and 32. The flap portions 29, 30, 3| and 32 are disposed at the corners of the carton and engage the exposed portions of the corner cells, the corner cells serving to impart a rounded contour to the corner portions of the outer carton. The flap portion 39 has a corner portion thereof cut away as indicated at 33 and the flap portion 26 has a slot 34 therein. The blank also has a flap portion 35 which is adapted to be glued or otherwise secured to the oppositely disposed flap portion when the carton is formed. The cutaway portion 33 and the slot 34 cooperate with each other to provide an opening through which the wires l2 and I3 extend.

It will now be clear that I have provided a battery unit which comprises an inner carton or casing containing a plurality of dry cells, the casing being generally rectangular in shape and having rounded corners, the inner casing being received within'an outer carton of the same general shape as the inner casing and having rounded corners which fit and conform to the contour of the rounded corners'of the inner casing. Such a battery unit may be readily inserted into or removed from a pocket in the clothing of the wearer without tearing theclothing and Without unduly Wearing the pocket.

It will of course be understood that the embodiment of the invention hereindisclosed is to be considered as merely illustrative and not in a limiting sense as various changes may be made The blank is also with wearable and/or pocket radio sets as well as hearing aids without departing from the spirit of the invention. The invention, therefore, is limited only in accordance with the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A hearing aid battery comprising an inner casing generally rectangular in shape and having rounded corners and formed from a single piece of material and having upstanding side and end walls, said side and end walls being cut away at the corner portions thereof, a plurality of cylinas well as in the electrical connections for use drical dry cells disposed within said inner casing and electrically connected with each other, there being a cell disposed at each of the four corners of said .casing and having a portion of the side walls thereof projecting through the adjacent cut-away portion, a terminal socket connection carried by one of said walls and electrically connected with said cells, an outer carton of the same general shape as said inner carton and receiving the same therewithin, said outer carton having flaps at the corner portions thereof engaging the exposed portions of the corner cells, said'corner cells serving to impart a rounded contour to the corner portions of said outer carton, said outer carton having an opening therein disposed over said terminal socket connection and rendering the same accessible, and connections leading from said socket connection and extending through a wall of said outer carton and adapted for connection with an A-battery. 2. A battery unit of the character described comprising an inner casing generally rectangular in shape and having rounded corners and provided with upstanding side and end Walls, said side and end walls being cut away at the corner portions thereof, a plurality of cylindrical dry cells disposed within said inner casing and electrically connected with each other, there being a cell disposed at each of the corners of said casing and having a portion of the side walls thereof projecting through the adjacent cutaway portion, a terminal socket connection electrically connected With said cells, an outer carton of the same general shape as said inner casing and receiving the same therewithin, said outer carton having flaps at the corner portions thereof engaging the exposed portions of the corner cells, said corner cells serving to impart a rounded contour to the corner portions of said outer carton, said outer carton having an opening therein disposed over saidterminal socket connection and rendering the same accessible, and connections leading from said terminal socket connection adapted for connectionwith another battery. v

ROBERT G. SIDNELL. 

